


So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish

by the_technicolor_whiscash



Series: The New Travels of Rose and the Doctor [5]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Atlantis, Confessions of love, Exploring Atlantis, F/F, Kissing, getting arrested in atlantis, what you all have been so patiently waiting for, yes this one's a bit different
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 19:32:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16455962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_technicolor_whiscash/pseuds/the_technicolor_whiscash
Summary: In their continuing adventures, Rose and the Doctor find themselves in Atlantis. Namely, in prison in Atlantis. Rose, upon breaking out, makes friends with a guard in her search for the Doctor. And finally, she addresses the tension that has been building between the two of them for more than a decade.





	So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish

**Author's Note:**

> HERE IT IS! the dramatic finale in my fic series. Though it isn't actually the end I'm planning an epilogue. I just can't escape these two can I

Well, here she was again. About to die. That always did seem to happen a lot, when she was travelling with the Doctor. Hell, there were a thousand ways she could die back on earth. Who knows. Maybe if she had stayed home, she would have gotten hit by a city bus this very moment. 

But chances were, probably not. Rose just wanted to find some kind of solace in the fact she was now trapped in some kind of cell, underwater, with water leaking in through a small, but ever present hole in the wall. There was about a foot of water at this point, slowly climbing up her shins. And the Doctor was nowhere to be found. 

Coming to Atlantis seemed like a good idea at the time. In myths, it always seems like a fantastic place to go. An underwater paradise. Except the Atlanteans weren’t exactly fond of surface dwellers, or futuristic technology, or being nice to people. So they dragged the Doctor off one way, and Rose off another, and that about summed up how her day had been going.

As far as prison cells went, it was a rather nice one. It was made entirely of glass, with views of the ocean completely surrounding it. All of Atlantis was constructed of bubbles like that, connected with long tubes of glass that reminded Rose distinctly of the cage of the pet hamster she had when she was ten. Rodents aside, the whole place was simply gorgeous. The Atlanteans produced oxygen through thousands of plants that spread all across the inside of the bubbles, and everything they made was biodegradable. 

Not a terrible place to die in. The dying part was rather bad, though. She never got a chance to say goodbye to her mum, since the Atlanteans took her phone. 

Rose decided to try plugging the hole in the glass with the prison cell pillow. But instead of plugging it, the pillow just got soaked and began dripping water in. 

Rose sighed. “At least it’ll hold it for now.” She began to pace around the room, thinking out loud. “What are my options? The most obvious one is to drown here, but I would rather not do that.” She went up to where the door had been, where an Atlantean guard kindly threw her into the cell. “Door seems to be sealed shut. Lucky me. And there’s no windows, since this whole thing is a window.” She sat down heavily on the prison cot. “Right. Well, I have no idea what to do.”

She scanned the floor, hoping for some kind of a hatchway, but with no luck. There were no secret switches on the bedpost, nor in the prison toilet. Why there was a toilet in a room intended for executions, Rose had no idea. It made no practical sense. But that wasn’t important. She had to find a way out of there, find the Doctor, and find the Tardis. 

In a last-ditch attempt, she punched the glass where the door used to be. And much to her surprise, it cracked very slightly. But she knew punching a hole in the glass would be a really bad idea, so she grabbed one of the legs of the prison cot, which were made of some kind of hard, dark wood, and rammed it as hard as she could into the glass. It shattered instantly, raining glass all over her and the floor. 

Unfortunately, the cracks in the glass didn’t stop at the door. One long break began spidering up to the top of the cell, and that was when Rose decided to run. The corridor was long, with several other halls branching off connecting to other cells. But she remembered where she had come from, and so she ran into the Atlantean’s council chambers armed with her hunk of wood. 

A few Atlanteans huddled around a central war table, with one armored one against the wall for security. This armored Atlantean was the first to spot Rose, and yelled out, “Security breach!”

One of the council members, an older female Atlantean, looked over. “Yes, we can see that.”

Rose held up her hunk of wood like she was brandishing a sword. “Where’s the Doctor?”

“Who?”

“The woman you arrested with me, where is she?”

“How am I to know? Darling, if you’re going to be threatening someone, make sure it’s the right person.” The Atlantean turned back to the table and discussing something with her colleagues. 

Rose turned to the armored one. “Fine then, why don’t you tell me where she is?”

“I don’t know either. I’m only on security, and my shift just started.”

It took everything in Rose’s power not to whack him across the shins with her wood. “Take me to your boss. Whoever’s in charge of where prisoners go.”

“Uh, I don’t think I can do that. M’boss wouldn’t like it, you see.” 

Rose held up the wood to his neck. “Take me to your boss, or I’ll beat you so hard your own mother won’t recognize you.”

“Jeepers, calm down. Follow me.” The Atlantean waved a hand, and they started off down the hall, Rose not letting her guard down. 

“How come you all are so chill about me breaking out of your prison?” Rose asked, once she had reasoned that the man was not going to suddenly turn on her. “I literally broke out of your jail with a big stick. I kind of expected it to be a bigger deal.”

“Oh, that happens all the time. We’re actually in the middle of a major security upgrade, because people keep breaking out of prison. Chances are, your friend’ll be in our higher security wing. You weren’t too much of a threat, so that’s why we stuck you in one of our older cells.”

“And what made you decide that she was a bigger threat than I am?”

“Because she’s a Time Lord. Er, Time Lady, sorry.”

“Doesn’t matter, she doesn’t care. But how could you know?”

“Because we scanned her when she came in. And not many species travel with a Tardis.”

Rose nodded. “That’s true.”

“Though I thought for sure Time Lord- Ladies were a myth. No one’s ever seen one.”

“She’s the only one left.”

“Oh, now, I am sorry about that. That’s a real shame.” The Atlantean seemed genuine in his sorrow. He wasn’t the brightest bulb, that was clear, but at least he seemed to be on Rose’s side. “Are you two seeing each other?”

Rose blushed and shook her head. Was it that obvious, her crush? “Not quite.”

“Sorry, I just thought, since you were so worried about her ‘n all that.” 

“It’s alright. Hey, what’s your name, anyway?”

“The name’s Guirt. I never much liked it, sounds too much like dirt, but it’s what my mother named me, so I won’t complain. What about you.”

“I’m Rose.”

“Now, that’s a nice name. See, I came from a traditional Atlantean family, so that’s why my mother decided on such a traditional name. I know some Atlanteans are naming their kids names of the land-dwellers, and boy, the elders do not like that.”

“I can imagine.”

They had reached some kind of an office, with a man sitting behind a desk made of the same wood that Rose was now brandishing. The man looked up and scratched his head. 

“Security Officer Guirt,” The man began, in a voice that seemed far more official than Guirt’s, “isn’t that a prisoner?”

“Yes it is, sir, but you see, she broke out, and demanded to see her friend.”

“Another one? Damnit Guirt, that’s the fourth this week.”

Rose frowned, but said nothing. Clearly, the Atlantean prison system was not the most effective.

The head officer looked at Rose. “So you want to see your friend, then? She that blonde one who yelled very adamantly about how we wouldn’t make it into her Tardis no matter how hard we tried?”

Rose nodded. “Yep, that’s the one.”

“Well, she was right. Nothing we’ve tried has been able to open that Tardis. But you’re a bit late. She escaped earlier, from our high security suite.

“Can’t’ve been that high security, then.”

“We’re working on that. Now, if you’ll just wait here, we can get you a new cell.”

“I think I’ll have to pass on that one. Bye!” Rose ran out the door, and headed down the hall. The Doctor had escaped too, and chances were, she was out looking for Rose.

As she booked it down the hall, she realized she wasn’t alone. Guirt was running right behind her. “I can’t just let you run off! You’re my prisoner!”

“I thought we had a connection, Guirt!”

“We did! But I am a professional, and thus I cannot have you just running around this complex!”

“Watch me!”

“That’s the idea!”

They had arrived back at the entrance of the hall in which Rose had been imprisoned in, only to find it cordoned off with another wall. Atlantean divers were working to repair the gaping hole that had caused the entire hall to fill with water. Rose hoped desperately that the Doctor hadn’t been down there when-

There was a commotion coming from back where the council chambers were. Someone was yelling, and they weren’t happy. 

Rose signaled to Guirt to be quiet, and krept into the room. She let out a breath when she realized that the person yelling was the Doctor, who had her sonic pointed at three elaborately dressed Atlanteans. Rose recognized one to be the woman who had effectively told her to F off. 

“I swear to God,” the Doctor was saying, “If she was in one of those cells that flooded, I will tear this place apart, brick by brick, until-” 

“Doctor!” Rose interjected. 

The Doctor whipped around, and immediately ran up and engulfed Rose in a hug. Then, without warning, she kissed Rose on the lips. And Rose froze. 

“I knew you weren’t dead. Too clever, you are.” The Doctor said, clearly not seeing the fact that Rose was currently working through about seventy different types of emotions. “Who’s your friend?”

Rose then remembered how to speak. “Oh, uh, this is Guirt.”

The Doctor held out a hand, and Guirt shook it. Guirt looked over the moon. “I have both prisoners now, the boss is going to be so pleased!”

The Doctor smirked. “I don’t think so, Go-Guirt. I like that nickname for you. Go-Guirt. But anyway, we’re busting out of here. You’re welcome to come with us, if you want.”

Guirt shook his head. “That would be going against my guardly code of conduct, and I just couldn’t do that.”

“Alright, mate, well, I respect that. Job dedication. It’s a good thing. Don’t you think so, Rose?”

Rose was still in a bit of a daze. The Doctor had done things like that, kissing her in the heat of the moment, before, but it had never had the same effect on Rose as this one did. It was probably a side effect of just how in love with the Doctor she really was. But it also didn’t quite feel the same as those other kisses. For starters, it had never been on the lips before, and it felt just a smidge too long to be platonic. But then again, the Doctor tended to do things like that for no real reason. 

Rose blinked. “What?”

“Should we call him Go-Guirt?”

“Yeah, sure.” She began to yank herself back into the real world. “Uh, where’s the Tardis?”

“That is a very good question. Go-Guirt, do you know where the Tardis is?”

Guirt nodded. “Sure, they wheeled it off down the hall. Me ‘n all of my coworkers sneaked a look at it. None of us had seen a Tardis before. Why’s it a blue box?”

“Broken chameleon circuit that I never bothered to fix. I can show you the inside, if you’d like.”

“Seriously? That would be like, the coolest thing ever.”

“Yes, seriously. Just take us to it, and I can show you.”

“Sure thing, ma’am. Follow me.” 

Guirt led the trio down the hall, to a separate room where things confiscated from prisoners were stored. There was the Tardis, as well as Rose’s cell phone. How the Doctor had kept a hold on her sonic, Rose had no clue. 

The Doctor threw open the Tardis doors, and Guirt’s jaw dropped. “It really is bigger on the inside. I thought that was just a myth.”

“Yep. Well, Tardis does stand for ‘time and relative dimension in space’. Makes sense for it to be big.”

“What’s with the chair strapped to the floor?”

“There were no chairs in the console room, so Rose decided to take matters into her own hands.”

Guirt walked around the whole console, taking in the wonders of the Tardis. “Wow. How the hell do you fly this thing?”

“Honestly, I hardly know. It’s a lot of guesswork. But we get where we want to go. Mostly.” 

Rose nodded. “Right, mostly.”

Guirt turned to Rose. “Rose, your girlfriend’s awesome.”

Rose felt a rush of heat come to her face. “She’s… Yeah, she is.” No point in telling him now. 

“Well, it’s been super cool meeting you two, but I’ve gotta get back to work. Thanks for showing me this! I can’t tell you how jealous my coworkers’ll be.”

The Doctor nodded. “Great meeting you too, Guirt.”

“And if you two ever come back to Atlantis, I’ll make sure that you don’t get arrested.”

Rose almost laughed. “That’d be great.”

“See you guys!” And with that, he was gone. 

Rose walked over to her lawn chair and sat down heavily. “Blimey, that was a lot.”

The Doctor pulled a lever on the console, and the Tardis took off. After a few moments, it settled back down. “Guirt was nice. Bit odd, though.”

“Very odd. I don’t think the security guard business is for him.” 

“Definitely not. Hopefully he goes into something more his speed. PR, maybe.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Though, how many PR reps do they need down in Atlantis?”

“No idea.” The Doctor leaned back against the console, eyes staring off into space. “Sorry our trip ended up with us getting incarcerated.”

“Hey, we’ve faced worse. Much, much worse. I’d take going to underwater jail over an army of Daleks any day.”

“You’ve got that one right.”

“Doctor,” Rose took a breath, “can I ask you something?”

“Of course. Anything.”

“Why did you kiss me?”

“Kind of a heat of the moment decision. I had been rather worried that you had died. When I saw you alive… I don’t know. Seemed like a good idea.” She looked concerned. “You didn’t like it.”

“No, no, I did like it. It was just surprising, is all. You’ve never done that before.”

“Ah. Well, whole new Doctor. Just trying things out. Seeing what feels right.”

Rose stood abruptly. “There’s something I have to tell you, and now’s as good a time as any.”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Should I be happy or worried?”

“That depends. But I’ve had this pent up inside for a while now, and I just have to let it out.” Part of her wanted to run out the door, before anything embarrassing could happen. But she had dug herself in this far, and she wasn’t going to back out now. Plus, she really, really wanted to kiss the Doctor again. Despite all of her best efforts, tears prickled in her eyes. “I love you, Doctor. I have for years. Really, I never got over you from your first time around. And I know, you’re a Time Lord, and I’m a human, and all of that nonsense, but I can’t deny my feelings any longer.”

“Rose,” The Doctor’s voice betrayed raw emotion. “Are you sure? I mean, I’ve caused you so much misery. I’m the reason why you’re stuck in this universe in the first place. Hell, I’ve changed bodies so many times, it’s even hard for me to keep track.”

Rose decided that this was best answered with action rather than words. She hooked a finger around one of the Doctor’s bright yellow suspenders and pulled the Doctor towards her. And Rose kissed her, a proper kiss, one that Rose had been yearning for for years. 

“I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life.” Rose said, when she pulled away. “I love you. No matter the face, no matter what’s happened, I love you.”

The Doctor cupped Rose’s face in one hand, and smiled sweetly. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“Showed me the universe, saved my life countless times, taught me how to rollerblade, the list goes on.”

“Huh. I suppose I do do good things once in a while.”

“Yes, you do. And you can do another good thing right now.”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“Kiss me again.”

**Author's Note:**

> yes the title is taken from the book in the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy series of the same name. my personal headcanon is that the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy exists in the doctor who universe. how that is, I don't know. I'll figure it out eventually.


End file.
